Books. Glorious, glorious books. Those of us who love books need a ton of them, and may or may not have wet dreams over our ideal home library. A true bookworm’s library collection is never complete, but if your book collection is nowhere near where you would like it to be, you can still start to build up your dream library.
So, if your current book collection looks something like this:
And you want your home library to look a little bit more like this:
But don’t have the budget, space, or enough books to make that dream a reality just yet, you shouldn’t stop creating a library within your current home. Let’s get started on designing and customizing your at home library, right now.
Your Space:
Utilize the space you have as much as possible. If you don’t have an extra room or little-to-no space to display your books as you wish, make do with what you have: Use hallways, the space beneath windows, or even empty closets (add shelving or crates for shelving, remove the door, or keep it open all the time).
Walls:
Use the wall space. If you own or your landlord is cool with it, drill shelves into the wall instead of buying a bookcase. Make sure you talk to some experts (either a contractor or someone at your local hardware store) about getting the correct hardware to support all that weight—books are heavy! And use that whole wall: below windows, above doors, from floor to ceiling. Customize as you want, but there is no stopping you.
Mix With Your Books:
Remember, book shelves can hold more than books. Go ahead and buy that bigger bookshelf if you have the space and can afford it. You’ll fill it eventually. In the meantime, you can fill the shelves with candles, journals, DVDs, magazines, pictures, and any other type of figurines or knick-knacks you may have.
Reading Nook:
If your book collection is on the scant side, you can still create a reading nook. There are just two things you need to be concerned with here: good lighting and comfortable seating. Look for that awkward corner in your home and place a comfy chair or beanbag there. Then just plug in a lamp (if it’s not by a window), and keep your stack of books neatly piled, or in crates or on a small shelf, right next to you. Or if you don’t have any empty or awkward corners, simply stack books horizontally underneath a window, and use lots of blankets and pillows for comfort.
Add To Your Library:
Even if you do have enough space to devote a whole room to a library, it doesn’t have to begin and end with books. There is a ton that you can incorporate within your library. Add a table where you can write or eat, or include a comfy couch and light fixtures to cozy it up.
Alternates To Shelves:
You don’t even need to use a conventional shelf to store your books. Shelving can be expensive, and a somewhat cheap alternative are crates. You can buy wooden crates from Home Depot, and paint them or leave them as they are. Stack side by side, on top of each other, or however you please, to store your books.
How To Order Your Books:
Once you’ve figured out how you are going to store them, you’ll want to arrange your paper babies: by color, alphabetically, by genre, or some other category. I show favoritism when it comes to my book arrangement: My favorite books are at eye level, and my least favorite are on the bottom most shelf. You can also play with stacking them horizontally or vertically, and consider placing the tallest books on the left, and descend in height as you go.
Comfortable Seating:
Think comfort. What type of reading you will be doing in there? Is it just for pleasure? For work or school? Or do you think you may want to spend some time writing in your library? Or a mixture of those things? Maybe you’ll want a comfy chair or bed, a small desk, or an armchair.
Accessories And Decoration:
Lastly, accessorize! If end up with room on your shelves, or have a table or two, then think about adding candles, globes, potted plants, maps, book art or other wall art, or figurines.
Got any tips of your own or photos of your already perfect home library? Tweet us @litdarling or share with us on Instagram @literallydarling.
